New criminal charges against Ukraine's Tymoshenko

Prosecutors have formally accused former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko with four new criminal charges, her lawyer said on Monday, dpa reported.

All are tax-related and connected with her management of a natural gas import company in Ukraine during the 1990s, lawyer Serhy Vlasenko told the Interfax news agency.

A Kiev court in October found Tymoshenko, who is one of the leaders of Ukraine's political opposition, guilty of illegally ordering the signing of a 2009 natural gas import agreement with Russia in violation of the law, and sentenced her to seven years in prison.

Tymoshenko has said the she is the victim of political repression and that she will appeal.

She has denied allegations of wrongdoing while she headed a company called United Energy Systems, which was the main importer of Russian gas into Ukraine from 1995 to 1997. dpa sbk mat Author: Stefan Korshak